The San Francisco 49ers have the best running back in the NFL in Christian McCaffrey, but they added to that position group in the NFL Draft, trading up to the 129th pick and selecting Isaas Guerendo, and Kyle Shanahan went into why the 49ers moved up to select him.

“Well we love his speed,” Kyle Shanahan said, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. “We think he’s got a lot of speed. All our backs can run, but it’s nice to add one who possibly can run a little bit faster just for a chance of pace and things like that. We like his running style. His running style I think is similar to Elijah [Mitchell] and the style that he runs with, he’s built that way and like the 40 he has.”

Isaac Guerendo ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Shanahan did make it clear that the 49ers targeted him for more than just his speed, however.

“We didn’t make a blanket statement like that,” Shanahan said, according to Florio. “But we wanted to add some speed to the running back room if we could. But you don’t just add that just to add it. It’s got to be the right type of runner with the speed. And there were a couple guys in the back end in the draft who had that. And this is one we really liked in that way.”

Shanahan was not the only member of the 49ers who was a fan of Guerendo, as running backs coach Robert Turner Jr. was all in from the start.

“Bobby loved him from the beginning,” Shanahan said, according to Florio. “He called him back at all the right times. He answered his texts. I’m just telling you, if you don’t do that, it’s hard to come back from that with Bobby. But, the same things I said, I mean we all really liked the speed part about him. But lots of guys can run. You have to be as good of a running back and the physicality he ran with how he was without the ball in his hand we felt he was a guy who played to our style and the skillset set could help us.”

The 49ers will hope that the haul they got from this year’s draft helps them get over the hump and win their sixth Super Bowl in franchise history.

49ers continue to add weapons in the draft

The 49ers have been rumored to potentially move on from Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk in a trade this offseason due to salary cap concerns, but the NFL Draft has come and gone and both are still on the roster. It seems like both will be in San Francisco in 2024, but it remains to be seen if they will be past this season.

Given that, the 49ers did add some offensive playmakers in this draft. In the first round, San Francisco added Ricky Pearsall from Florida, an intriguing receiver who could potentially fill in if Samuel or Aiyuk eventually do leave the team.

Guerendo was next up in the fourth round, and there was another pick in that round, which the 49ers used to add Jacob Cowing, a wide receiver from Arizona.

With the draft done, the 49ers have their eyes set on getting ready for the season, where they should be a contender in the NFC once again.

Golden Nuggets: Who’s your favorite draft pick?

Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Monday, April 29th, 2024

Kawakami: Here’s why it’s all about the Brock Purdy timeline for the 49ers now (paywall)

“So now, almost every veteran player knows he’s playing for his contract and his job. That’s always true in the NFL, but after this run of four trips to the NFC Championship Game in five years (and two Super Bowl losses), everything’s amplified for this 49ers roster.

Of course, if the 49ers had a bunch of players who had achieved far less, this wouldn’t feel so abrupt or disruptive. It wouldn’t matter. Who cares about a mediocre team’s roster cleanout? But, of course, if the 49ers had a lesser roster core, Shanahan and Lynch likely wouldn’t be going into their eighth seasons together running this team, anyway, and somebody else would be making these decisions. When you’re good for a half-decade, the bills come due. And everybody’s watching what you do when it happens.”

Branch: 49ers weren’t seeking immediate returns during forward-looking draft (paywall)

“The 49ers had the luxury of drafting with 2025 and beyond in mind. They are the defending NFC champions and are returning 18 of the 22 players who started in their Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs. In addition, some of the four spots at which starters aren’t returning have probably been upgraded: At defensive end, for example, the 49ers signed Leonard Floyd in March to replace Chase Young, last year’s disappointing trade-deadline acquisition.”

ESPN’s Mel Kiper, Jr. grades the 49ers draft

“I do like what Lynch & Co. did after that, though. Dominick Puni (86) has the potential to be a starting guard in time,” Kiper wrote. “Snagging Puni keeps the 49ers’ grade out of C territory, though I do think Pearsall will be a good pro.”

49ers are the next stop on Missouri RB Cody Schrader’s long-shot journey (paywall)

“Schrader joined the 49ers’ class of free-agent rookies Saturday when he agreed to terms after he wasn’t selected in the 257-man draft. Schrader, 5-foot-8 and 202 pounds, was bypassed after he ranked third in FBS with 1,627 rushing yards, averaging 5.9 yards a carry, scoring 14 touchdowns and finishing eighth in Heisman Trophy voting. He had 205 rushing yards and 116 receiving yards in a win over Tennessee in November to become the first player in SEC history to have 200 rushing yards and 100 receiving yards in a game.

Schrader, whose time in the 40-yard dash (4.61 seconds) hurt his draft stock, entered the transfer portal after he led Division II in rushing with 2,074 yards in 2021. But he wasn’t offered a Division I scholarship and arrived at Missouri in January 2022 as a walk-on who was seventh on the depth chart.”

Why 49ers did not select true offensive tackle in draft

“When the 49ers first went on the clock at No. 31 overall, there already had been nine offensive linemen chosen in the draft. Clearly, the 49ers did not believe any starting-caliber tackles still were on the board. The rest of the league apparently agreed, as the next tackle was drafted 25 spots later when Miami selected Houston tackle Patrick Paul at No. 55 overall.”

Bethune details instant connection with 49ers LB coach Holland

“Me and coach Holland, we hit it off like we knew each other for years when I went up there,” Bethune revealed. “Our conversations were just about everything on and off the field. So, just me having that, building that relationship, that fast with him, I felt a good feeling from that point on.”

When asked about the conversations Bethune had with Holland, the linebacker explained they discussed a wide range of things beyond just football-related topics.

“The conversations was literally about everything,” Bethune continued. “Just like sometimes we’d talk about animals and then we’d go back to talking about football and he was just finding out the things that I was interested in, just like fishing. So, I would tell him a lot of stuff that I would like to do during fishing while I was in Miami and Tallahassee. It was just, it was really like we was having a regular conversation, it was nothing specific.”